Updated October 23

One of the biggest worries executives and entrepreneurs have is negative brand perception resulting from bloggers rants (Nevermind that these rants usually happen because there is something wrong with the product or some other service issue). This loss of message and brand control scares companies, and in some cases prevents them from engaging in social media.

The reality is that negative comments and general brand perception usually occurs for a reason. Companies need to look at these situations as opportunities to engage their customers and communities. By doing so — listening and engaging — organizations can 1) turn around negative perceptions and 2) build an incredibly loyal following.

There’s no better example of this than Dell Computers. This company has experienced a significant turnaround in social media realms, moving from “Dell Hell” to an incredibly loyal community on its sites. This morning I chronicled this rise on Technosailor…

From Hell to Heaven (as run on Technosailor this morning)

Remember Dell Hell? Jeff Jarvis used the BuzzMachine to slam Dell for his horrific customer experience buying a laptop two years ago. This series of posts epitomized growing dissent against the company, and served as a channel to punish the Texas computer maker for bad products and customer service experiences.

A lot has changed since then:

• Michael Dell returned to run the company after three years
• Quality improved
• And most importantly, Dell began participating with bloggers and social media experts

The Dell community has become a strong one. The company has listened to us, and participated transparently, honestly and openly — going so far as to put one of its exploded laptops on its blog to admit, yes, there is a problem (caused by the battery manufacturer). They even let us tell them what to do on IdeaStorm.

The company has done a lot to turn its brand around. And it is working. Is Dell perfect? No. I think their social media pros Lionel and Richard would be the first ones to tell you that. But they are part of the conversation, and they are actively serving the community. We have a direct and very open line to Dell.

The result? Much better relationships throughout the social media world. And the leading voice of computer manufacturers in social media environments. Goodwill is abound for Dell these days, and rare is the mention of Dell Hell. Some competitors are opening up and blogging.

Consider these statistics:

• At start of program, 49% of blog posts were negative.  Today, overall tonality is 22% negative.
• Direct2Dell currently ranked about 700 on Technorati, among the highest corporate blogs.
• Direct2Dell gets more than 5 million unique views per month
• Over 7000 ideas have been submitted via IdeaStorm
• Studio Dell is gets more than 200,000 views per month

The take away for us as individuals trying to maintain our brands is that by listening, changing and participating we can survive bad experiences out here in the social media world. But the key is to listen (are you reading this, Scoble?), let people comment and provide input, and then create products, posts etc. I think that’s really been they key to Dell’s brand turnaround success. Coke had a similar experience as it went from indigestion on Mentos (bad) to Virtual Thirst in Second Life (good).

Tomorrow , Jarvis is expected to report on Dell, and discuss the progress they’ve made. While no one knows what the report will say, it is conceivable that Dell has literally gone from Hell to Heaven. Regardless, they’ve provided a powerful example of listening and change.

Updated, 10/18 at 6:50 p.m.

The story broke, and Jarvis did indeed say that Dell has repaired its tarnished image. Read the BusinessWeek article on Dell learning to listen.

Join the Conversation.
Global Conversation.
Naked Conversations.

One of the central (and most deeply held) themes of what we call Social Media and Social Networking is the notion of a Conversation.  Speaking for myself, I’m not so sure this is the right metaphor - not without a little more tweaking.

To this point, we have a growing movement of marketers and communicators who go back to the roots of The Cluetrain Manifesto, and hanging on the tenet that “markets are conversations.” This is an important step in understanding how commerce can evolve in a new environment of technology and communication. But I don’t think it is yet refined enough.

Off Track

The opponents of this central piece of Cluetrain are said to belong to an old mindset of “Command and Control.” They are accused of wanting to enforce a top-down model where the consumers are meant to just swallow the spoon-fed messages of mass-distribution models. Marketing is about getting “the last word.” This is flawed as well.

I’m likely going to take heat from both sides, but there is a middle ground to define - one that is more palatable and accessible to those who are brand new to pondering these changes.

What marketers and companies need to acquire first is the goodwill necessary to interrupt. With millions of conversations going on simultaneously, it is crazy to think that a company will want to engage in a dialogue with everyone - and just as crazy to believe that consumers want to be bothered all the time. While much attention has been given to the technology what empowers consumers to create their own content, the more important shift has been their empowerment to consume what they want, where they want, and when they want. As marketers and communicators, consumers aren’t listening to us - they are listening for us.

If our clients and customers know where they can go to be heard - and get reasonable feedback - that goes a long way toward building the goodwill we need to interrupt.

On Patrol

As communicators, it’s our job to patrol the global market as best we can, listening out for those snippets of conversation that deserve or require a correction. Maybe it is a complaint that is not grounded in truth. Maybe it is a budding problem that we can correct quickly. Maybe it’s a key piece of information being brought to our attention, or a suggestion that can save us millions. The point is not just to hear these things being said, but being able to politely interrupt.

“Excuse me - I just happened to overhear your complaint about X…” Coming from a complete stranger, it can be jarring or scary or just outright rude. But those companies that have worked their way through the protocols and etiquette of Social Media will know how and when to ring the bell - and how to gracefully exit. You can still have “the last word” in a conversation if you are polite about it.

Changing the Debate

Sadly, these two camps are so thoroughly entrenched in this debate, many companies and organizations have frozen themselves out of participating because they don’t know who or what to believe.  There are some very public faux pas’ and missteps on the record - and for executives tasked with a fiduciary responsibility, that can be daunting.

The debate about Social Media has been locked into defining the word “Conversation,” deriving everything that model entails, and determining if the end result of a Social Media effort is aligned with the corporate goals.  I believe that as we move forward, we need to tweak that metaphor, and look for “interruption without intrusion.”  Ring the bell, knock on the door - and if you do a really good job, they’ll leave the back door open or even give you a key!  It’s all about posture, protocol, and participation.

It’s amazing how uncommon common sense is these days.

Blogger relations should just be about working with people. But most of the time, traditional PR is either missing the point of it in general, or worse, applying the same faceless outreach all in the hopes of beefing up the coverage sections in their reports.

Like the press release, the PR industry has been stuck in a rut for so long that the industry is content with the existing factory-line of building news, writing reports, schmoozing, and simply broadcasting messages to anyone with an inbox.

PR is experiencing some of the greatest innovations and advancements courtesy of Social Media. But instead of embracing a new and improved commitment for creating and sharing news and information with people, we’re using the same old marketing ethics and tactics to spam our recipients.

Blogger relations is so much more than a code of ethics for outreach. At the very minimum, media, analyst, and blogger relations is about people and cultivating meaningful, mutually beneficial, and productive relationships.

It all starts with respect for bloggers, the company you represent, and the people you ultimately want to reach.

What do you stand for? Seriously, how many PR people actually take the time to really “get” what it is they represent and why it matters to the rest of us. And, more importantly, how will it help the people you’re trying to reach.

Next step, listen and read.

What is it about what you represent that will compel someone to share it with their community. Remember, a blogger has a responsibility to their readers in order to maintain credibility, along with the trust of the community. In today’s attention economy, they must actively compete for their precious time, so you can bet that any good blogger is going to be selective.

And, for all of you over-achievers out there, look beyond the a-list. I can’t tell you how many times I hear PR pros purport that blogger relations is all about the “cream of the crop.”

Trust me when I say that the a-list only helps with the credibility of a brand, but does very little for generating new customers or enhancing brand loyalty. The true influencers are the peers of your customers.

The best communications strategies will envelop not only authorities in new and traditional media, but also those voices in the Magic Middle of the attention curve. They help carry information and discussions among your customers directly in a true peer-to-peer approach.

The Magic Middle is defined as the bloggers who have from 20-1000 other people linking to them. It is this group that enables PR people to reach The Long Tail, and it’s effects on the bottom line are measurable.

Yes, of course there’s more to blogger relations than what’s included here. No matter how far out we look and how much time we spend inventing new strategies for reaching bloggers, we usually lose sight of common sense and the basic building blocks for building and nurturing relationships.

Sending a shout out to Depeche Mode with this one, “People are People.”

More here and here. 

Yesterday at the Greater Washington Board of Trade, The Washington Post’s Dan Beyers, Social Media Star Debbie Weil, and Ogilvy’s 360 SVP Steve Marino and I had a great discussion with 50 business owners and executives.

A lot of the attendees wanted some basic tools to start getting acclimated in social realms. We agreed to post the mentioned resources here… I am sure there are many more that we missed, so feel free to add to the list via the comments section.

To begin, I’d like to suggest Kami Huyse’s excellent post on Social Media in Seven Boxes. It really classifies social media forms in a friendly way.

Analysis

Alexa.com gives a rough estimate on traffic. A good way to guestimate which social networks and blogs are most traveled.

Technorati.com Advanced Search is a great tool for blog research. Search by tags or topics to find subject matter specific blogs. Organize by authority to determine which ones are linked to most frequently.

Participation and Monitoring

Google Reader is a great tool to aggregate blog content in one place while you are getting used to the social media world. To do this you will need to figure out RSS subscriptions (hint, click on the orange button on most sites). You can also use Bloglines or another reader.

Google Alerts notifies you whenever a news story or blog post occurs on a relevant search term.

Join Facebook and search groups for related content and interests. Add them to your list and friend people in those groups.

Getting Acclimated

Use tools like these to get a feel for what your community cares about. Even begin participating by commenting and contributing. but always try to add value to the conversation, don’t sell.

By getting acclimated, business owners and execs can get a better idea of how to best contribute to their community, and in which manner. Strategy should revolve around creating an editorial mission to serve the organization’s community with great content. So watch closely, listen and enjoy these exciting media forms.

The advent of social media continues to disrupt traditional media outlets. Look no further than the dwindling ad sales that forced the closure of Business 2.0’s doors. For this magazine, now really is gone. Unfortunately, this was a great magazine that did a nice job covering the new economy created by emerging technologies.

In a conciliatory gesture, AOL Time Warner has offered to give existing Business 2.0 subs one copy of Fortune for every two remaining issues of Business 2.0 in their subscription (see below). Unfortunately for them, the products do not compare. And as a result, customers like me not only lose their favorite publication, but are now slighted with 1) less magazines on 2) on a different subject matter.

Instead of renewing, I’ll just find some business technology blogs for my Google Reader.

Google bought Jaiku
Tech nerds whipped into frenzy
Though they don’t know why.

One of the advantages of launching into Social Media is that everything is so new, you can’t be that far behind.

One of the disadvantages of forecasting Social Media is that everything is so new, you might catch a case of S.O.S. (shiny object syndrome)

Earlier this week, interest in a little web-service called Jaiku spiked out of the blue, when the service was swallowed up by Google. Within minutes, the prognosticators were jumping in with predictions about what this will mean for Jaiku, Google, Twitter, blogs, and life as we will know it next year. There’s so much interest in Jaiku that the current owners have shut down new registrations in order to upgrade the back-end.

What is Jaiku exactly, and why should I care?
What is in a name?
Web 2.0 confuses.
How will I use this?

Jaiku is another one of those “difficult to define web applications.” It was started in Finland and has achieved greater success in Europe. (Disclosure alert: Brian Solis does PR for Jaiku, but Ike didn’t consult him for this piece, and has never actually spoken to Brian.) Somewhat like Twitter and Pownce, Jaiku is designed to let you build a community of your friends and rapidly share messages with them. Like Pownce, Jaiku allows for commenting on these short updates. Like Twitter, Jaiku allows the information to flow out of the web and into Instant Message and SMS (text messaging.) It allows you to update your circle of followers and receive updates in the time and place of your choosing.

One of the barriers to Jaiku’s success in North America has been the unwillingness of U.S.-based cellphone carriers to allow text messages from overseas. My sneaking suspicion is that will be the very first thing Google addresses. Pronto. But expect Jaiku to get a lot of attention, particularly as Google starts integrating it with GMail, GTalk, GApps, Orkut, and everything else in the Googleverse. Google recognizes the advantages of keeping data nimble and cross-functional.

How will I use Jaiku?
A thing’s just a thing.
Value and utility
Defined by users

This class of services has been alternately referred to as”micro-blogging” or “lifestreams.” Neither of those terms really satisfy me, because they are still telling me more about what I ought to do with it than what I can do with it. There are some very frivolous messages posting across all those networks. But you don’t have to tune in to anything you don’t want to. There are people using them as proxy-RSS feeds - for syndicating news headlines - for simply staying in touch. Because the freedom of input options seems to be as wide as the freedom of consumption options, the network maps of these services are constantly in flux, and are totally variable to the users’ wishes.

For services like these, we really need a better name that describes as class of “solutions in search of a problem.” The word “mashup” clearly defines applications that provide greater value by showing the same data along multiple perspectives. What we’re talking about with Jaiku/Twitter are systems that show the same data along multiple media, both input and output. I previously likened Twitter to the Rosetta Stone. The analogy fits here, but is a little restrictive. In this case, I like “Context/Location Independent Communications Connection.” A CLICC. Pronounced just like “clique” - and very descriptive of a networked group who have voluntarily opted-in.

Bottom Line
Joining a network
Without purpose is silly?
Learning means doing.

Should you just rush out and join Jaiku, or Twitter for that matter? Not if you are expecting some type of instant results. The benefit of getting wet with these networks comes as you determine your own level of value. Maybe the functional aspects of a CLICC still aren’t relevant to you. Maybe it just becomes a big time drain. But it’s also quite likely that the more forms of Social Networking you become familiar with will better inform your judgments about the ones that are more germane to your bottom line. Those who have dabbled in bulletin boards and forums and blogs all have a better seat-of-the-pants feel for how those interfaces affect the size and mood of a community. The broader your baseline, the more tactical you can be in plotting your next step.

Naked Conversations Author Shel Israel and I were honored to be guests on Toby Bloomberg’s Diva Marketing Talks. Businesses thinking about social media sometimes misrepresent themselves — which creates astroturfing incidents. Nothing could be worse for a company to be considered an astroturfer in the social media realm. Listen in to get some insights on astroturfing and how to avoid it (Just an FYI: the audio feed volume varies).

The first reviews of the book are in, which will appear on the back cover of the book. We like to leak things out here to give those actively interested in the book an early taste of what is to come. A big thank you to David, Debbie, Kevin, Valeria and Chris who took the time on short notice to read an early galley copy.

Here are the quotes:

“In the old days, you had to beg your way into people’s minds through the media as your mouthpiece or buy your way in with expensive advertising. Now Is Gone shows executives and entrepreneurs the new way to get the attention you deserve—publish your way in with social media. In an approachable and engaging style, Now Is Gone lays out a compelling case for what PR has become in an interconnected world. And he does it without all of the confusing gobbledygook and jargon that so many so-called ‘experts’ toss around.”

- David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR

“Now Is Gone is an indispensable primer on how companies can use social media to practice PR 2.0. The revolution is here! This book tells you how - and why - to join it now.”

- Debbie Weil, corporate and CEO blogging consultant and author of The Corporate Blogging Book

“Whether you’re experimenting with social media and ready to get serious or starting from scratch, Now Is Gone is a smart, strategic starting point. The book is rich with relevant examples of the new ways to communicate – collected from some of the world’s leading authorities on social media.”

- Kevin M. Dugan, APR, author of Strategic Public Relations and co-author of the award-winning Bad Pitch Blog

“Now Is Gone is a must read for anyone who is considering wading into the waters of social media. The case studies and short hand in each chapter are great reminders of the power of conversation even for those of us who have been doing it for a while. Share it with your team and your agency, it will be a productive departure to craft your own strategy.”

– Valeria Maltoni, author of The Conversation Agent blog

“Don’t be misled by the title, NOW is your chance to learn what you need to know to be successful with Social Media. Now is your chance to change how you engage with your customers and Now is your chance to gain a competitive advantage by embracing the principles in this book. If not now, you most certainly will be forced to catch up to your competition later…”

-Chris Heuer, founder and president of the Social Media Club

 Many folks have asked for autographed copies of Now Is Gone.  You can get a Geoff Livingston autographed copy of the book directly from Bartleby Press. Bartleby is also offering a 20 percent discount ($11.95), which Amazon has yet to match.

For a Brian Solis autographed copy, you will need to contact Brian and send a copy to him. Connect with Brian on Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce or Facebook. Or you can go hear Brian speak (which he does frequently).

Per earlier discussion on this topic, in order to have Brian sign all copies he would have to fly from SF to DC, and that would cost almost $1000 including hotel. To be frank, you don’t make money on books (see Marketing Now Is Gone), and we are not eager to incur unnecessary additional expenses.

Dear Ike -

I’ve got an employee who says he’s getting news from a Twitter on his computer. I didn’t think a high-end speaker would be compatible with his PC (I had IT remove the sound cards), but apparently he’s found a way around it. Can I implement Twitter on the other machines here and save money?

Mark C., Dallas, TX

Hi Mark, and thanks for writing!

I wish there was a way to simply use software to replace expensive speakers - that would be a real maverick idea! Unfortunately, the Twitter your employee is using is a Web 2.0 messaging service. What you need to know is that Twitter is simultaneously a blog, a Rosetta Stone, and a sheet.

Okay, the blog I get.

Think of it as a Micro-blog. I know that’s hard, because it doesn’t look like any blog, and the entries don’t have comments. It limits you to 140 characters. You can’t dress up the fonts. You can’t post pictures, and can’t make hyperlinks. But it still has many of the conversational elements. You can choose to “follow” certain people, and they can follow you back. You can make your entries (Tweets) visible to the world or only those you allow into the inner circle. You can even reply back to others’ Tweets, by opening with @username - which creates a rudimentary trackback link. You can have conversations or just Tweet to the wind - just like you can on a blog.

A Rosetta what?

Forget about that language software. (We all know that farm boy has no chance in hell of landing that Italian supermodel. Ciao, Jethro.) We’re talking about the original Rosetta stone - found in the late 1700s and finally deciphered by a French archaeologist. For centuries, Egyptian Heiroglyphs confused the hell out of historians. They didn’t know if they were dealing with a pictogram language, an alphabet, or something in between. There was no reference point for the language, until the Rosetta stone was discovered. It had the same message repeated three times - once in Ancient Egyptian - once in a more modern Egyptian - and once in Greek. Well, every archaeologist worth his salt knew Greek, and it was a simple matter to compare up and learn how the ancient language was put together.

With that in mind, I want you to think of Twitter as a modern-day Rosetta Stone - bringing together the babble (Babel) that is blogging, RSS, Instant Messaging, and Short Message Service (cell-phone texting.) Now you don’t have to be tied to one particular portal to reach those who follow you, they can do so on any of the above simultaneously. One message runs concurrently through several protocols, and you reach your subscribers where they want to be found. (And if you don’t want to hear from certain people on your cell-phone, you can even control which users come to you.)

Well, sheet.

That’s the spirit. I call Twitter a “sheet” because it can be so many things to so many people. A sheet can be, well, a sheet. Or it can be a toga. Or a sarong. Or a drop-cloth to keep paint off your carpet. Or an impromptu privacy screen in the backyard. Or a liner for the doghouse. Or a ghost costume for parents who remembered Halloween at the very last minute. It is what it is - and is ill-defined enough to be what you need it to be at the time.

For some, Twitter is an additional means to advertise new blog entries. For others, it is a way to share links and interesting insights. It’s a way to scream for help, and pick the brains of like-minded individuals. It’s also a way to talk about what you had for lunch, and your bowel movements. (For the naysayers, I could write out my bodily-function schedule on a sheet and hang it out the window, and I doubt you’d rant about how bedsheets are silly and useless. Just the information carried.)

Like a blog, it provides a medium for chronological expression of thought and conversation.

Like a Rosetta Stone, it bridges across communication divides.

Like a sheet, it is easy to define in form and impossible to fully describe in potential function.

Unlike a coupon to CompUSA, it won’t add free audio to your PC.